Detective detects stolen Oscar Wilde ring

About 17 years ago, after a spectacular break-in, a golden ring of the writer Oscar Wilde disappeared - now the jewel is back: A Dutch art detective has tracked down the ring, which was stolen in 2002 from Oxford University in the UK.

"We had already given up hope of seeing him again," said Mark Blandford-Baker, Magdalen College Money Manager. Wilde had given the ring in 1876, together with a friend, to a friend, William Ward. The jewel carries the Greek inscription "Gift of love to someone who desires love".

The ring was in Magdalen College because Wilde had studied there. In 2002, a former employee of a cleaning company broke into the building, got drunk on whiskey at the college bar and among other things stole the ring - which is shaped like a small belt and consists of 18-carat gold. Its value was then stated at 35,000 British pounds. The college wrote a reward of £ 3,500.

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Following his arrest, the thief said in court that he had sold the ring for 150 pounds to a scrap dealer. The whereabouts of the piece of jewelry remained a mystery for years. There were also fears that criminals would have melted him down.

The detective Arthur Brand managed to find the ring. In 2015, there were rumors in the art underworld that "a Victorian ring with a Russian inscription" had appeared, said the Dutchman, apparently confused with the Greek inscription, and together with the London antique dealer William Veres, he commenced the investigation led him to George Crump - a loudly brandy "decent man" who, due to his late uncle, a well-known casino owner, has "knowledge of London's criminal underworld." With Crump's help, Brand and Veres managed to locate the ring.

"Greatest break in English legal history"

According to Brand, the appearance of the jewel was linked to the legendary slump of a retiree gang in London's 2015 Hatton Garden. "Rumor has it the ring has reappeared just weeks after the break-in," Brand said. "The ring was given to me right in front of the diamond depot at Hatton Garden, which I think is a bit of English humor." Brand is known as "Indiana Jones of the Art World" and has already tracked down several high-profile stolen works of art, including a Picasso painting stolen from a yacht in France.

The ring is said to be returned to Magdalen College on December 4 at a "small ceremony", according to Money Manager Mark Blandford-Baker. The college was very pleased with the reappearance of the piece in his collection - Brand was "extremely grateful".

Oscar Wilde has written classics such as "The Portrait of Dorian Gray". The Irishman had died impoverished in 1900 at the age of 46 in a Parisian hotel.